The Death Of Shade
by AlphaDelta6
Summary: Shade goes out into the forest to get some peace after recent events, but he is not alone... Spoiler: Shade dies the end (in case you didn't figure it out from the title) In the words of some guy i know: SHAD GITS DED
1. Chapter 1

**This fanfiction takes place directly after Sunwing. I have not read Firewing or Darkwing yet so please excuse any wrong information.**

Shade was flying above the treetops of the forest near the bridge, looking down at the paths and rivers below him. It had been night for some time now, it seemed around midnight. The air was cool as Shade skimmed over the top of the tall trees of the vast forest that stretched out into the distance. The past few weeks had been the most eventful days of his life. First he had got separated from his colony on the way to Hibernaculum and had to make the long distance journey back with his new friend Marina. Then he had finally found his father, held captive in the lair of the evil Goth. It had been a busy few weeks, but Shade was hoping that now all of this was over, and the owls had made temporary peace with the bats, that things would be a bit more quiet for a while. As much as he liked adventure, he needed a break.

Little did Shade know, there was another bat gliding above him, watching down on him, waiting for his moment to strike. It was Goth. He watched patiently as Shade flew through the trees at great speed as Goth kept his distance to remain hidden above him. Goth had a good feeling tonight, the felt it in his gut, he would finally capture and kill Shade.

Shade carefully manoeuvred through the trees, flying under the treetops but still some distance from the ground, dodging the trees in his path. In this distance, Shade saw a tiger moth sitting upon the ground. Shade knew he would capture this tiger moth, it was facing the opposite direction and had no idea he was coming, it was perfect. Shade glided low and silent over the dirt and leaf floor of the forest, only inches above the surface to minimize any noise he made.

Shade flew fast and hard to the tiger moth, determined to not let it get away from him. He was flying incredibly fast. "This is it...come on" he whispered to himself as he rapidly drew closer. He was only a few feet from the tiger moth, he opened his jaws, lunged forward, and...the tiger moth jumped out the way just in time.

Shade crashed into the dirt behind the tiger moth, screeching to a halt like a plane landing with no wheels. He eventually stopped landing on his back, facing upwards into the black night sky watching the tiger moth fly away from him. Shade laid there for a moment, trying to think what he had done wrong? Too fast? Too loud? He couldn't understand it…

Goth saw Shade's spectacular crash from above and saw him lying motionless on the ground below him. "Excellent...now to move in for the kill." he thought to himself. Goth soared up into the air, hovered for a second above Shade, and made a steep dive towards Shade, claws ready.

As Shade gazed into the night sky using his eyes, he began to notice a small black dot above him. "Hmm, what is that?" Shade thought to himself. The black dot seemed to stay still for a while, and then began to grow bigger. "Wait...is that…" Shade said to himself, trying to decipher what the falling object was. At first he thought it may have been a human flying machine that was dissenting, but as it fell he began to make out finer details. This was no plane, it was another bat. Shade sent out his echo to see if he could make out who it was. He couldn't make out much, the bat was still above the treetops by some distance, and Shade could not seem to see how far away the bat was exactly. The figure of the bat broke the treetops, and only then did Shade see who the bat was. This was no bat, this was Goth. Shade had no time to react, he tried to flap his wings to push himself upright, but in a matter of milliseconds Goth fell on him from the sky, slamming his claws into Shade's chest with an incredible amount of speed.

Shade was forced to the ground, a heavy weight bearing down on his chest from above. He glanced up and saw Goth's massive claw pinned over his chest like a cage, his wings trapped inside with the rest of him. His back was being flattened into the ground under the tremendous weight.

"Ahh, finally Shade…" Goth hisses. "After all this time i finally have you in my grasp. How does it feel Shade? To finally face your destiny? To become one with the great and mighty King Goth?"

Shade spat back at Goth. "Agh! Ignorant little rodent!" Goth screamed back at him, the voice piercing Shade's ears. Shade desperately looked around for any possible way to escape. There was no objects nearby that were worth moving, and the claws pushing down on his chest made breathing nearly impossible, so using his echo to project an image was out of the question.

Shade looked up into Goth's dark, black eyes. He had never noticed it before, but now he was this close to Goth, he could really see what laid behind those eyes of his. Anger, strength, evil, it was if he was staring into hell itself, he could almost make out the fire behind his eyes. He never thought he'd say this, but if he could, he would rip the heart out of Goth before he ever had the chance to do it to him. But Shade realised that was a stupid idea, as he knew that in reality, Goth had no heart. He was a cold blooded killer, he showed no mercy, no empathy for his victims, in Goth's eyes, he was just food.

"You...evil...stupid..." Shade croaked out of his lungs, the weight really pressing down on him now. He could see Goth was slowly pushing his full weight into Shade, crushing him into the dirt below. "Go on, say it" said to Shade, a grin traveling across his face. Shade drew in a quick sharp breath and yelled at the top of his painful, burning lungs "You heartless beast!". Goth stared at Shade for a minute, is this really how the hero of the Silverwings would go? Yelling puny insults at an obviously superior creature such as himself? Shade should be on his legs praying to him at this moment! Begging for mercy! He did admire one thing about Shade though, he never gave up, and he knew that Shade would not go without a fight.

"I'm not heartless, what i am doing is merely survival young Shade, something you obviously need to learn for yourself. Too bad you never will.". Shade looked around him once again, no bats in sight, he knew he was at least a few thousand wingbeats from the bridge, even if his sound could make it there, even the fastest bats could never reach him in time. Shade gulped, and accepted his fate.

He was going to die. Right here. Right now.

Images of vampire bat droppings flashed into his mind, is that really what he would become? Just a smelly rotten ball in the middle of a forest? As much as he hated the thought, it was inevitable at this point. He remembered back to his earlier dreams where Goth had eaten him still alive. The sound of his heartbeat, the low pitched sound of his maniacal laughter outside, it was terrifying. If there was a hell, it was surely residing inside of Goth.

Without any kind of warning, Goth flipped Shade over onto his face. Shade's face was buried in dirt and Goth's claw came down swiftly on his back. He tried to look up to see what Goth was doing, but his neck could barely lift off the ground. His spine began to ache under Goth's weight, and breathing was still difficult in this new position. Then, without warning, he felt a sudden movement behind him.

Goth swung his head forward, and with great momentum propelled his fangs into Shade's back, just above his neck. Shade shrieked out in pain, a horrible scream that echoed for miles around the forest. Just as quickly as it happened, Goth withdrew his razor sharp fangs from Shade's back. Goth stepped off of Shade and moved a few steps back, gazing at him with a wicked smile on his face. "Why...why has he let me go?" Shade wondered to himself. He tried to move, but his wings wouldn't respond. He tried to move his legs, but they wouldn't even twitch. Infact, he couldn't even feel the earth below him on his belly, his entire body was numb. He tried to stretch, roll, twist, anything, but he couldn't move. Shade then came to the horrifying conclusion.

Goth has severed his spinal cord, paralyzing him permanently.

"Come on, move you stupid body!" Shade screamed in his mind as he desperately tried to even get a miniscule of movement from his bones. But it was worthless, he knew this was it. There was no escape of any kind now.

Goth then stepped in front of Shade. At this point all Shade could do was move his eyes and face. He felt a tingling sensation in his neck, and was only just able to lift his head up the few millimetres it took to face Goth. Never in all his life had Shade felt so powerless, here he was now unable to move in the presence of the king of the jungle, King Goth. A single tear rolled from Shade's eye and he stared at Goth. Goth saw the tear roll off, his only reaction being a slight grunt.

"Don't be sad Silverwing, it will all be over soon…". As Goth said those words, he lowered his head towards Shade, and opened his jaws. The smell of Goth's breath was sickening as it enveloped Shade and surrounded him in it's warm heat, he almost gagged. Goth's lower jaw slid under Shade with easy, picking up the crippled bat. Shade felt the sharp, jagged teeth brush under him. He fell onto the wet, slimy tongue of Goth's mouth, his wings hanging outside the edges of his jaw, limp and lifeless. The muscle below him moved, pushing him around inside the warm cavity. Shade could barely see anything down the infinite darkness of Goth's throat. He could feel the heat of the writhing muscle below him as his chin rested on the tongue. Once Shade was fully (but just barely) inside Goth's mouth, he slammed his jaws shut on the young bad. His sharpened teeth punctured through the skin of Shade's wings which were hanging lifelessly outside of the jaw. Shade screamed out in pain as his wings were torn in the edges of the jaw, blood began to drip out of them and onto the ground. Goth shook his head back and forth, throwing Shade around in the tight confines of his mouth, his wings flapping around with the movement. Shade's throat hurt from crying in pain so much, until suddenly the pain stopped and he heard two sounds at the exact same time, hitting the forest floor. Goth had severed Shade's wings clean off.

Shade then felt movement in the mouth, and began to move forward. As he moved forward what remained of his mutilated wing was dragged inside the mouth, Shade couldn't see what had happened from his current position. His head hit the entrance to Goth's throat, and the throat expanded as it wrapped around his head, drawing him further in. The thick throat muscles had some difficult pulling him down, but with gravity on his side Goth slowly swallowed Shade down. Shade began to have trouble breathing as he went further down as the back of his legs went down the throat. His face was squashed up against the strong throat muscles that pulled him down, his face covered in warm saliva. He felt a drop of blood roll past from his damaged wings which were hanging above him, held above him in the tight grip of the throat.

Shade began to cry as he descended. It was only now the full weight of the situation had hit him, his worst nightmare (literally) had come true. He was inside Goth, and there was no possible way out. He thought of the others back at the bridge. Ariel, Cassiel and Chinook. But more than anyone else he thought of Marina. How foolish he was to go this far out without anyone else, it was all his fault, as usual. None of it made sense, had he really come all this way just to end up as food for a cannibal bat? Even more strangely, he tried to understand Goth. What was Goth's fascination with him? What was the urge inside Goth that made him hate Shade that much? Shade has gotten angry when he missed a tiger moth, but it never troubled him, this was something else. Shade tried to imagine himself in the mind of his killer, but it all made no sense. Shade wasn't a killer. He never was. He was just an ordinary bat like anyone else, and like any other bat this was the end of the line for him.

With one great big push, Shade was forced down into the cramped area of Goth's stomach. Shade fell in and slide against the slimy, wet walls of the cavity before going still. It was pitch black inside. With little air left in his lungs, Shade used his echo vision to build a rough image of the area around him. He was in a very tight and closed space, only an inch of space to move either way, if that. The floor of the stomach was filled with a warm liquid that rose halfway up Shade's chest as he laid against the stomach walls. He hoped that he stayed upright, if he were to slide over into the liquid he wouldn't be able to get himself up again and would drown in the stomach acid. He could feel the heat of Goth through the thin stomach walls, a radiant warmth that surrounded Shade and hugged him tight. Juices from the stomach walls flowed down from the ceiling and began to cover Shade, covering him in a thin, transparent film of slime. But the most noticeable feeling of all, was the sound. The sound of Goth's slow heartbeat. It was a thudding sound that came from everywhere, pinpointing its location was impossible. This was scarily like his dream.

Shade was barely breathing by this point, the lack of oxygen in the enclosed space was starting to affect him. Sounds began to echo in his head and he was having trouble staying conscious. Shade, with what little movement he had left moved himself into a comfortable position, and continued to cry to himself. Where would everyone think he had gone? They would no doubt start a search for him, a search which of course would end resultless. Shade laid upright, feeling Goth's heat on his back against the stomach walls. The warm juices below him slowly sloshed against his chest. He hated to admit it, but if it wasn't a matter of life and death, and it wasn't Goth, this might have been enjoyable. Wait, what did he just say? Getting eaten? Enjoyable? Hah, what was he thinking. The lack of oxygen must be getting to his brain. Shade slowly began to fall asleep, knowing that these would be his last few waking moments on Earth. He was partially glad that he would pass out before being digested, at least the death itself would be fairly painless. Shade felt movement outside as Goth flew to a tree to roost for the night. Shade closed his eyes for the final time, let out a deep, calm breath, and went to sleep.

THE END


	2. Chapter 2

Shade sat inside Goth's stomach waiting for the inevitable end. He knew it would not be long before the strong stomach acids melted through his flesh, tearing away at his fur piece by piece. Shade began to feel his chest getting warmer. Well, this was it. This is how the legendary Shade would meet his death, melting away inside the stomach of someone who would doom the world, reduced to his bare chemicals to feed the mighty Goth.

Shade could see nothing in the darkness of the stomach, not even a faint blur. If he could see however, he would be horrified by the sight. Small clumps of fur were floating on the surface, the stomach acids stripping Shade of his fur, layer by layer. Shade began to feel his skin getting hotter. Was this his fur beginning to absorb heat? He had felt this in the summer. Or...yes, it was. He realised the acid had melted through his fur and had made contact with his skin.

Shade began to feel his skin get incredibly hot, it began to sting horribly after a minute of attempting to move himself into a better position. Shade began to breath heavily, a horrible stench filling the limited amount of air within the small cavity of the stomach. The pain was slowly getting more painful, but Shade knew the worst was yet to come. He began to think, did all living creatures he ate go through the same process? All the bugs he ate, did they face a similar fate? Well, yes of course they did. It was strange to think that after all these years he would be in their position. Now that he was experiencing the same pain as the bugs he had eaten previously, he felt slightly sorry for them, to put them through this kind of pain.

The heat around Shade grew to the point where it was unbearable. Shade wriggled around as much as he could to cease the pain, but his efforts were in vain. He began to feel a sharp pain around him. As the acid began to eat away into his skin, he felt the blood veins on the surface of his skin began to rupture. The liquids in the stomach began to turn a dark blood red.

Goth was now sitting on top of a tree, looking off into the starry night sky, the moon was full and shining bright above. Goth looked at his stomach, he could see small movements coming from the center of his body. "Hm, fighting until the end are we?" Goth spoke out loud. The movements inside him grew stronger, although they were still hardly noticeable. Goth was taunting Shade, and there was no possible way for him to escape.

Inside, Shade shook his head back and forth as violently as possible, a last sign of protest against Goth. He stopped after a few moments however, the pain in the lower half of his body was far too intense to continue. Goth shook his body back and forth to taunt Shade even further, throwing Shade back against the wall behind him. The acid sloshed into his eyes, causing Shade to scream in pain. Shade slid down the slimy wall behind him further down into the deadly chemical mix below him. There was now a sharp, searing pain in his lower body that began to grow worse with each passing minute. Shade began to feel his skin bubble and crawl. His skin was beginning to melt. With what very little energy Shade had left, and in a great deal of pain, he leaned forward and bit into the walls of Goth's stomach. He held his bite for a few seconds before releasing, getting no reaction from the outside. Shade fell back against the walls of the stomach, defeated.

Shade felt his skin begin to move. He had been screaming in pain continuously for the past minutes or so now, his lungs were burning and almost out of air. It felt as if someone was holding fire to his body, he could almost feel flames licking against his sides. The pain grew more and more intense as his skin began to melt into a gelatinous liquid that rolled off his body, almost in layers. Shade breathed heavily, there was practically no air left inside the small cavity that contained him. The pain felt like a thousand owls, all scratching at him, tearing chunks of flesh away to kill his as quickly as possible. He could feel chunks of semi dissolved flesh floating next to him, fizzing in the acidic liquid.

Shade tried to take a deep breath in, but nothing happened. He tried to use his echo vision to see around him, but his lungs simply didn't respond. As much as he told his lungs to expand and contract, nothing happened. His lungs has been punctured by the stomach acid. Shade felt his body getting heavier as acid flooded into and around his rib cage. He began to sink lower into the acid. Shade lent against the walls as he began to descend, his mouth wide open, desperately trying to make any kind of noise. The pain was worse than ever, the pain was now comming from inside him rather than the outside. Shade began to hear a ringing in his ear, and sounds began to distort around him as the lack of a pair of functioning lungs began to affect him.

The acid was nearly up to his neck now, and Shade could no longer feel anything below him. He had no idea what kind of state his body was in, were his feet even still attached? He had no idea, all he could do was endure the pain and hope it ended soon. Shade's head began to feel light, he knew it wouldnt be long until he passed out from lack of oxygen, not to mention, most of his body being dissolved. The blood loss probably didn't help either. In his last waking moments, the acid rose up to Shade's mouth. Shade sealed his mouth shut and kept his eyes closed, he knew it would not be long before his pain ended. In the last few seconds, Shade's lips parted. He felt the painful acid roll down his throat and into his own stomach. He choked on the acidic liquid for a moment, before relaxing completely and passing out.

Outside, Goth could feel his stomach getting lighter, and the movement beginning to slow. Goth heard a gurgling sound from inside his stomach. Goth took this as the final signal that Shade had passed away inside of him. "Hmm, if i may say, you were quite delicious, Silverwing. Looks like you were useful after all…". Goth stared into the moon for a second before raising his wings and flying off into the black night sky. As Goth flew high, almost touching the clouds, he gazed down upon the large, glowing, metallic structure in the distance. He had been informed from a stray bat a few nights earlier that there were other bats over there, thousands of them, inside a structure that humans apparently call a 'bridge'. "Hmm, maybe i shall pay them a visit some day…" Goth said to himself with a grin on his face.

Goth looked at his stomach, now back to it's original size. "Goodnight Shade…" Goth whispered to himself.

"Sweet dreams…"


End file.
